“You saying that you’re a vampire?”

Abayomi nods sagely. 

“That is what I’m saying.”

I look up to the cloudless winter sky, to make sure the sun is still there. It’s not doing much for me on this below-freezing day, but it’s there. 

I look back at the so-called vampire. He isn’t bursting into flames at the moment, so I’m a little confused. I don’t want to call him crazy, but what he’s saying is a pretty big pill to swallow. Then again, it explains how he was moving so fast, and how he isn’t freezing cold right now. 

My stomach grumbles again, it doesn’t care about this conundrum. 

“Well, if you want to explain that further then take a walk with me. I need some breakfast,” I tell him. 

“Certainly,” he responds. He walks next to me with his hands behind his back, like he’s hiding something. 

I have no gloves, so my hands stay in the pockets of my useless coat. 

We don’t exchange a word with one another but it’s a short walk anyway, he’s probably saving what he has to say to me for when we sit. I don’t know what the fuck I’m waiting for. 

We enter the deli and the dude behind the counter says my order before I do and gets started on it. I wonder what he looks at to recognize me; my face? My coat I always wear? I can’t say, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I hear the sizzle of the pancake batter on the grill, the cook considers which eggs to scramble, and what pieces of bacon to cook. 

Abayomi orders scrambled eggs and bacon, which doesn’t help his ‘vampire’ claim. He then engages me in pleasant conversation about nothing in particular. I talk with him but it feels like we’re putting on a play about two people being casual. Abayomi brings up the weather and how cold it’s been despite the fact he’s only wearing one shirt. Then the price of things and how they’ve been increasing. Everything he says is like the saltine crackers of conversation, objectively devoid of significance. I suppose the clerk and the cook can hear us and will tune out anything we say further. 

When the food comes Abayomi gets a water bottle, pays and we go to a table, this being one of the few delis that let you sit down in this city. 

The wall opposite where we sit has a mirror covering it, and I wonder what the design concept behind that was. Who wants to watch themselves eat? 

Abayomi sits across from me, looking secretly pleased with something. I’m about to ask what he’s so happy about when I notice something strange. I can see my whole face in the mirror, even with Abayomi in front of me. I tilt my head a bit more to the side. 

I only see myself in the reflection, Abayomi’s stocky frame should be blocking me, but he isn’t there at all. I reorient my head and see that Abayomi still has that smug look of self-satisfaction. 

What seemed to be super strength, razor-sharp pointed teeth, and no reflection in the mirror. That’s three tallies in the “he’s really a vampire” column. There’s only one point in the opposing column, but it’s a pretty damning point since I saw him standing out in the sunlight. 

Still, the chances that all this has a reasonable explanation are looking pretty slim. 

“Figured it out yet?” He asks. 

“Don’t get cocky. No one likes a smartass.” I pour syrup on my pancakes. “So, you talked to my boss, convinced him that this was a freak accident or something. What about the security camera?”

“I went back after you left and grabbed it. Your boss will have no idea.”

“Good, I really don’t want to interact with him outside of work.” Abayomi picks up his fork and spins it around. 

“I can see that, doesn’t seem like pleasant company.”

I take a few bites out of my food, it tastes better since someone else paid for it. 

“And how ‘bout me?” I ask with a mouth full of pancakes. I swallow. “Am I pleasant company?”

Abayomi shuffles his food around, making no attempt to eat. 

“I haven’t decided yet.”

I scoff and bite into bacon. 

“So, what’s the deal?” I ask. 

“The deal?”

“Yeah, you waited outside my place, you bought me breakfast; I assume there’s a deal or a catch of some kind attached,” I elaborate. I know for certain there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Breakfast. Whatever. 

“Maybe I’m simply enthralled by you, did you consider that?” Abayomi counters. He eats some bacon as well, his eyebrows rise up at the taste. 

“Thought never crossed my mind. Though, you did just say you’re not sure if I’m pleasant company yet. So that kinda works against you.”

“Touché. I’ll level with you.” He leans forward. “Last night was…an abnormality. Or at least, it should’ve been.”

“Cryptic. Vague. Keep going.”

“What I fought with last night was a newblood. A newly created vampire,” he explains. 

“Think I would’ve got that,” I counter, eating more of my eggs. He rolls his eyes. 

“There are protocols in place for turning someone.”

“Of course,” I say knowingly. “You gotta have protocols, they’re important.”

“They say sarcasm is a measure of intelligence.”

“There are exceptions to everything.”

“Clearly,” he bites back. “As I was saying, there are rules in place. If someone is creating new vampires and not taking care of them, it’s a surefire recipe for disaster.”

“If the fight last night was just the start, I can see how that would cause trouble,” I mention. Abayomi frowns. 

“You could’ve died if I hadn’t stopped him, you realize that, right?”

I shrug,

“I could die any night, I walk through that park to get to work.” Abayomi’s frown doesn’t fade. “I think I saw you two running in the dark like…uhh…raccoons.”

“Raccoons?”

“It’s the only nocturnal thing I could think of,” I say to the vampire. 

“We’re getting off track,” he informs me. “I have to investigate and find out who is creating these vampires and letting them loose.”

“‘Vampires’? What makes you think there’s more than one?” He shrugs. 

“I don't know for sure, but since I killed that one, whoever turned them might make another. Whatever they’re planning wouldn’t hinge on just one newblood.”

I nod. 

“So where do I fit into this?”

“Well, as I said, we have our rules and protocols. You’ve witnessed a vampiric event, as we call it, and there are some responses we have in such cases,” he says. He steeples his hands as he waits for my response. I continue to eat my pancakes. 

He looks at me with slight bewilderment, like I’m an optical illusion he doesn’t quite get yet. 

“That doesn’t bother you? I could be referring to anything.”

I shrug again. 

“What do you want me to do? Get on my knees and cry? I saw how you fucked that guy up. I’m not sure there’s any way I could stop your ‘response’. Just let me finish my breakfast.”

He seems disturbed by my answer, but it’s just the honest truth. 

“In any case,” he presses on “we can ‘persuade’ humans to forget what they saw. By any means we deem necessary.” He opens his water bottle and takes a sip. That’s when I say,

“Like suckin’ and fuckin’?”

He immediately loses his shit and coughs, spraying water everywhere. He grabs some napkins and wipes up his mess, coughing all the while. 

“Not necessarily,” he manages to say “what I’m saying is, I can offer financial compensation in exchange for your silence on the matter.”

“How often does money buy silence?” 

“Very.” He clears his throat “though sometimes additional surveillance is required.” he wipes his mouth. “I’m proposing that I could pay you to keep silent about what you saw and we enter a quid pro quo relationship.”

I think I heard that term in a movie before, not sure if I exactly what it means. 

“Uh-huh, and what would you get from me? My blood?”

His gaze travels up and down my body, with a look of consideration. 

“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you look like you’re deficient in…many vitamins. I don’t think your blood would be very nutritious,” he says.

I don’t have a comeback for that ‘cause he’s more than likely right. I bite the last bite of my bacon.

“Ouch,” I manage to reply. “So what would you want from me?”

“Information, a cover, an alibi if need be.”

“You’re so desperate you need a cashier for help?”

“I haven’t been in this city for very long, I can’t trust the police here.”

“Can you trust the police anywhere?”

He nods in agreement.

“That’s fair, but what I’m getting at is I don’t know if the police are involved in some way yet. So it’d be best to stick to more…civilian sources of information.”

“So in exchange for me not blabbing about vampires, you’ll give me money?”

“And let me know about anything else unusual, possibly vampiric in nature, happening in the city.”

“...How much money?” I ask. 

Abayomi eats the last of his eggs and reaches into his pocket. Quickly counting he offers a folded stack of hundred dollars bills. My jaw tightens at the sight of it. 

“Three thousand for being cool about all this, and for disposing of the ashes, I hate sweeping,” he says, or I think he said that my focus is on the money. It’ll cover my rent and some bills. “I can offer more as my investigation continues and you continue to use discretion and provide information.” 

Perhaps realizing that having a bunch of money out in the open isn’t a good idea, or maybe ‘cause he wants my undivided attention, Abayomi puts away the money. 

Instead, he offers his hand to shake. 

“Do we have a deal, Felix?”

I quickly shake my head to exit my money haze. Grabbing hold of his hand, it’s colder than it should be. He squeezes my hand just hard enough to solidify the deal. 

“We have a deal, Abayomi.” I grab the last piece of bacon off his plate. He just chuckles and leans back in his seat. 

“Good, good. That'll make things much smoother.”

“Happy to help in any way that I can,” I say in my customer service voice. Abayomi squints his eyes at me but doesn’t say anything further. He looks up to the ceiling, if I had to guess; I’d bet he’s wondering his next move. 

“Lemme ask you something,” I start off. His attention lands solely on me again. “How can you stand out in the sun? Is that just some warped mythos shit?”

He takes a moment to mull over my question.

“It’s not that warped of a myth. What you probably consider to be a vampire is just one variant of us,” he begins. “Think of it like a virus; it mutates,  depending on several factors, and how it expresses itself can vary greatly. The Eurasian variant is considered the standard form. Those with it cannot withstand the sun's rays. But vampirism has a way of acclimating itself into different environments. I myself have the Africanus strain, it allows me to walk in sunlight, as you saw. It comes with its own drawbacks, however.”

“Like what?”

“Perhaps another time,” his eyes dart to the side. The clerk has taken some interest in our conversation. I nod, taking his meaning. We clean up our table and head out the deli.

The wind has picked up, ignoring my coat and chilling me to the bone. We walk in silence once again. There isn’t much of anyone else on the streets so I have to ask the question that’s been on my mind. 

“Why don’t you have a reflection?”

“Well, it has to do with how vampiric cells metabolize sunlight. You see-”

As he launches into what I’m sure will be a long ass explanation, I think back to when I damn near cried during a biology test in high school ‘cause I didn’t know a thing on that sheet. 

“Nah, nevermind,” I say “I’ll just say it’s magic.”

He gives me a look for interrupting him.

“Science was never my best subject,” I explain in my defense.

“Just as well, we’re here.” 

I hadn’t noticed that he walked back to my place.

“Well aren’t you quite the gentleman?”

“Chivalry isn’t dead, not while I’m around.” Abayomi takes out a cellphone, it’s way nicer than mine. “Let’s exchange contacts,” he proposes.

I take out my phone, feeling only a bit self-conscious about its general state and age. 

“It usually takes more than this for me to give a guy my number.” I joke…maybe.

“I hope most guys don’t offer to pay you for your silence,” he jokes back…maybe.

“Depends on the guy.”

I had noticed before but seeing him in the light of day is different; Abayomi really is quite handsome. He looks up at me, with sunlight pouring down on us I can see that his eyes are red, not the brown I thought they were before. I can’t help but glance at his lips for a moment, knowing that there are two rows of razor-sharp teeth behind them doesn’t detract from their lushness. 

I wonder what he’s thinking about while looking at me. 

With that thought, I realize I’ve been staring at him for too long. 

We exchange numbers and Abayomi gives me the money he promised. I can’t recall holding so much cash at one time. 

“So do you usually give out your number so easily?” I prod the vampire. He scoffs.

“Only if the guy is pleasant company,” he says with a charming smile. “I’ll see you later, Felix. If you see or hear any out of the ordinary, call me immediately and I’ll check it out. Okay?”

“Gotcha,” I reply. I look at my phone with the newly added contact. My list of numbers isn’t that extensive and with it being alphabetical he’s right at the top. I briefly consider if I should add a picture for his number. 

When I look back up, Abayomi is gone. 

“Rude,” I say to myself but wonder if he could hear it.  

As I walk back to my apartment I get a stock image of vampire's teeth off the internet and set it as his contact picture. 

The rest of my day goes by unspectacularly, which is fine by me. I downloaded the Archon app, a news app that’s sourced by regular people. I spend most of my time scrolling through it to see if anyone reported anything ‘vampiric’ in nature. A lot of it is tragic, but not supernatural by any means. Stabbings, recorded police brutality, house fires…car crashes. I set up alerts to let me know about any murders or disappearances. Seems like the sorta thing that would overlap with vampires. 

Day turns to night, I’d usually be getting ready for work about now but who knows how long it’ll take to fix everything up. So I get to sleep through the night like I suppose a normal person would.

When I wake up in the morning I’m met with an unfamiliar feeling, I suspect it’s being well rested. I don’t want to immediately fall asleep again. I take a deep breath of the chilly air in my apartment since my landlord is too much of a bastard to fix the heat. 

Making my way to the fridge I remember the stack of money Abayomi gave me. I can afford to go grocery shopping and still pay rent. A rare occasion in my life. I get dressed and head out. 

When I exit the building, I see none other than Abayomi.

“‘Sup?” I greet him. He nods back. “You’re not too busy…patrolling the city?” I ask.

“The newblood I encountered had the Eurasian strain, it stands to reason whoever made them has it too. So there shouldn’t be any activity for a while,” he explains. 

“Guess that makes sense.”

“What are you up to?”

“‘Bout to go grocery shopping. My fridge is emptier than my heart,” I joke. Abayomi just looks at me. “Most people would find that funny,” I point out. He shakes his head in disagreement. 

“I’m not so sure about that. I’ll tag along with you.”

“You don’t have something to do?”

“I should see this city if I’m going to investigate around,” he counters.

“Yeah, and the grocery store is the real hotspot.” Though I joke I have no real objection to him coming along. 

We talk as we walk, touching base on what news I read last night. Most of which seemed of no interest to Abayomi, but he takes note of the couple of missing persons I read about; saying he’ll investigate further. When we get to the store our conversation steers to less disturbing topics. As I get my things Abayomi asks me a few questions. I can’t tell if it’s out of genuine interest or if it’s a part of his investigative job. 

Either way, I’m quite dull so there isn’t much to tell about me. Still, hanging out with him is the closest thing I’ve had to a friend in a long time. God knows I need one. 

At the checkout, he has the audacity to offer to pay for my food. 

“I know how to buy stuff, y’know,” I say while reaching for my wallet. He has his out faster with his card already tapped against the reader. 

“Not very fast it seems,” he smugly says. The clerk poorly hides a chuckle at his stupid joke. And when I thought the humility would stop, he starts carrying my bags!

I let the rich, handsome, muscle-bound jerk carry my stuff since it’s so important to him. 

As we leave I say to him,

“What happened to quid pro quo? This seems like it's all quid.” Again, I’m not 100 percent sure I know what it means. Abayomi laughs.

“My friend, let me just help you, please. Think nothing of it.”

“Well, I think that-”

A horrible scream rings out somewhere. We’re only a couple of blocks away from my place. 

“You heard that right?” I ask him.

“Yeah, sounds like I gotta get to work.” 

Ch. 2 End